What is Meant to Be
by HisElement
Summary: Aang thinks over how being the Avatar makes his possible relationship with Katara harder. Finally, he decides to ask her her opinion on it. Oneshot.


**What Is Meant to Be**

He was the Avatar, a twelve-years-old boy destined to save the world and bring balance and peace to all the nations. The power he held, so great, so frightening, and the responsibility it conveyed, overwhelmed him. He was insecure, he was afraid, he dreaded his next mistake; one that would surely cause pain, like many other failures of his had before. He covered this easily, though, he'd always had. A bright smile and a happy face and no one could ever know what he really felt.

Except for her.

She was a Water Tribe girl, a simple peasant who, along with his brother, had accidentally come across with a task; a duty so ethic and heroic that wasn't really meant for kids like him or teens like her to do. It had been fate for her to found him. It was her and her brother's fate to help the Avatar end the war and restore peace.

They were never meant to feel something but friendship and brotherly and sisterly love for each other. And he knew that. Oh, how he knew that.

Aang sighed sadly. He was sitting cross-legged at the shore of a river they'd found the night before, when tired and hungry they'd been looking for a place to rest. Sokka, along with Momo, had gone off looking for something to eat, though he would probably not catch anything remotely edible. Fortunately, Toph had gone with him, wishing to compete against him to entertain herself. Appa, it seemed, was taking a bath in the river's waters. Aang turned to look at the dark-skinned girl who was practicing waterbending a few feet from him. Katara shinned in Aang's mind, as she moved the waters with graceful and intricate arm movements. Almost like a delicate dance, and she was an artist. Aang hadn't noticed he'd been staring at her, but she had.

"Aang, is something wrong?" Katara asked in a caring manner, stopping her waterbending to pay attention to her troubled friend. His eyes grew wide and his cheeks grew red when he realized what he'd been doing, and that she'd caught him. She walked to where he was and sat down next to him. He gave her his best toothy grin, in hopes of covering up the embarrassment he was feeling.

"Um… yeah. I'm okay!" _How convincing_, he thought, wincing. She saw right through that, he was sure. Katara gave was giving him a quizzical look, as to expecting him to elaborate. The wind blew lightly, and both shuddered at the sudden coldness. "Just… thinking."

"What about?" She asked, her attention on the river. He didn't know what to answer as he fought back thoughts of how beautiful she looked right then. She turned her attention back to him, her lips forming a smile, waiting for an answer he could not give her.

He reached out his hand to touch the small waves that formed in the river. The water was cold and made him shudder once more. "It's… Avatar stuff." That wasn't entirely false. It had been in the back of his mind. It always had, ever since the day he'd been told. He turned to her and smiled, hoping she would stop asking awkward questions.

"Oh," She said, understanding finally reaching her. Katara's expression had changed abruptly. She was no longer smiling at him, but analyzing him with her eyes, looking for an answer in his. "I can't imagine…," She started unsure. "How hard it is, the burden…"

"Yeah…" Aang said miserably. _You have no idea_. She wasn't talking about his obvious feelings for her, but the task the future held for him. But still, her words went so well with his feelings it was impossible not to drift back to that train of thought. "It's hard," He quickly told her, adverting his eyes. "But it's something I've got to do." She nodded slowly and turned her attention back to the river. It was still early, the sun was shinning but bringing no warm to them, for the weather was cold and dry. The river looked calm, the waves were moving slowly on the surface, occasionally crashing against each other. His eyes darted to Katara, who was quietly forming shapes on the river's surface with her fingers. And as he looked at her, he wished he was a normal boy. He wished he'd had a normal childhood and never found out he was born to be the Avatar, the savior, that his future didn't belong to him but to the world… That he wasn't allowed to love the girl sitting next to him, whose hair softly flew with the wind and whose heart made his own grow.

But it wasn't love, and he knew it, at least not yet. It wasn't the right word to describe his feelings for her. He liked her, more than normal. So much more than normal. And he'd like to tell her just that. Tell her she had made his life brighter, tell her she always found a way to make this journey more pleasant, tell her that every time she smiled she made him smile as well and suddenly everything was alright. And he wanted to tell her that she's pretty. Not pretty, but beautiful. And that he wasn't the first to think this, that many other men did. That he would like to personally hurt each one that did, but restrained himself. He wanted to tell her all this, but he knew that couldn't.

He was the Avatar. He couldn't afford to be romantically involved if the world was in war and about to be destroyed. Little time ago, he'd realized that there was a reason Aunt Wu hadn't seen love in his future. It was because there wasn't any. There were fights, and adventure, and learning, and helping, and friendship, and happiness, and sadness, and misery, and hope. But no love. But… No, that couldn't be. He was going to save the world, didn't he deserve to have this? Didn't he deserve love? He just needed a reassurance, some words of wisdom from his friend. He gathered all the courage he had, and finally called her. "Katara?"

Katara jumped a little, startled, for they hadn't been talking for the past few minutes and she'd gotten used to the silence. She turned to him, smiling again. "Yeah, Aang?" She asked him. He was unsure about asking what he was about to. What if she took it the wrong way? What if she laughed at him? What if she thought he was pathetic? What if… she still thought he was a kid?

"Do you think," He started hesitantly, still unsure of himself. "That the Avatar can, well, fall in love?" He finished sheepishly, his eyes adverting back to river to avoid her gaze and a blush slowly creeping up in his cheeks. Katara's eyes were wide with shock; she had never imagined he'd asked her that. A blush was visible in her face as well. If she knew that he had been talking about her, he didn't know, but it sure looked like it. She opened her mouth as to answer him, but closed it before any sound came from it. They stayed many seconds like this, he staring at the river and she looking for an answer to the tricky question he'd made.

"Maybe, Aang, I don't know. Is that what's upsetting you?" Katara asked him softly, examining him with her eyes once again.

"In a way." He answered her tentatively. This conversation was starting to get awkward and drifting into uncomfortable grounds for both of them. "It's that… I've got this huge responsibility towards all the people that need me, and I haven't been around for the 100 years I've been needed the most. It just seems selfish to think of my own happiness when there are so much people depending on me." He finished, still hesitant. He finally turned back to her, and found her smiling sadly at him.

"Oh, Aang. I'm sorry. It's always been so hard for you." Katara threw her arms around the boy who was sitting next to her not quite knowing why. Aang blushed even deeper and awkwardly circled her with his arms as well and closed his eyes. It felt so well to be so close to her. The coldness he'd felt before was long gone and replaced for a warm feeling that spread rapidly throughout his body. It suddenly didn't matter he was the Avatar, that he was meant to defeat the Fire Lord, that he was just twelve. Fate is malleable; the future is what you make out of the present. He was once told his fate was to master the four elements and save the world, and that's exactly what he'd been doing. If he'd never been told, then he wouldn't be there, holding this girl so close to him. Maybe his fate wasn't to be with Katara, but he didn't care. His fate never was to escape home, but he did. And his fate never was to fall for her, yet he did. Maybe fate's rules aren't so strict. Maybe they can be changed. Maybe… somehow, Katara and he _were_ meant to feel something more than friendship and brotherly and sisterly love for each other. Maybe they were meant to love.

**A/N: **I'm _so_ sorry for the corny-ness of it all. First Avatar fic, and I hope it isn't the last. Please review! It'd be much appreciated.


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